The present invention is directed toward paintball loaders, and more particularly, toward a paintball loader that uses a rotating star wheel and a Hall effect sensor for controlling the operation of a motor-driven active feed mechanism for directing paintballs to an infeed opening of a paintball gun.
A popular game has developed over the years which uses compressed gas guns commonly referred to as paintball guns. The game itself is generally referred to simply as paintball. In the game, each of two or more teams tries to capture the opposing team's flag. The players on each team carry paintball guns that shoot paintballs, gelatin-covered spherical capsules which contain a colored liquid. When a player is hit with a paintball fired from a gun, the paintball ruptures and leaves a colored mark on the hit player who must then leave the game. As the game of paintball has grown in sophistication, semi-automatic paintball guns that sequentially fire individual paintballs as fast as the trigger can be repeatedly pulled, have become more prevalent. The high firing rate capability of semi-automatic paintball guns has necessitated the use of bulk paintball loaders in conjunction with such guns.
Typically, existing paintball loaders or hoppers include a housing which is placed on a paintball gun. The loader is shaped to hold a large quantity of paintballs and has an outlet tube through which the paintballs are fed to be fired by the gun. The outlet tube leads to an inlet tube located on the upper portion of the gun. Several paintball loaders are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,213,110, 6,502,567, and 6,792,933.
There are two main classes of paintball loaders, each having feed mechanisms for mixing or moving paintballs. The first class includes gravity feed or agitating loaders, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,100. Such loaders generally include a housing that holds a plurality of paintballs. An agitator, for mixing, stirring, or otherwise moving the paintballs is positioned within the housing to increase feed rates and prevent paintball jams. The agitators can take various forms, including paddle wheels, shaped members, arms, paddles, wires, fins, and vibrating members. Generally, the agitators are connected to a drive shaft and rotated or otherwise actuated by a motor.
The second main class of paintball loader includes active or force paintball loaders. These loaders force paintballs out of the outlet tube and into gun's inlet tube allowing for increased feeding rates. In an active feed paintball loader, the force feed mechanisms can take the form of drive cones, fins, paddles, arms, conveyors, carriers, or any other arrangements whereby paintball can be forced into or through the outlet tube of the loader.
One such active feed loader is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,232, incorporated herein by reference. In the active feed loader of the '232 patent, an impeller is situated in a surrounding well at the bottom of the loader housing and has curved arms that sequentially move paintballs one-by-one toward the outlet tube.
In both gravity feed and active or force feed loaders, sensors are frequently used to monitor a stack of paintballs as the paintballs are forced from the outlet tube into the inlet tube. Such sensors are used to send signals back to a motor for rotating the agitator or for initiating the force feed mechanism. In some systems, electronic circuitry and microprocessors are used to control or monitor the operation of the loaders based on signals received from the sensors.
Conventional sensors currently in use sense the absence, presence or movement of a paintball in the outlet tube using various techniques. These sensors take various forms from simple contact or limit switches that are mechanically activated when contacted by a paintball to optical and infrared sensors that can sense when a paintball interrupts or otherwise interferes with the electromechanical energy path between an emitter/detector pair.
While conventional sensors have met with some success, they have not been entirely satisfactory. Due to deficiencies in each type of sensor, they can malfunction or may be too slow in providing the necessary information.
There is, therefore, a need for a sensor that is reliable and which is capable of providing instantaneous information concerning the status of paintballs passing through a feed tube.